Director of Marketing & Recruitment/Public Information Officer

Roanoke--chowan-Community-College; Ahoskie (NC); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Roanoke-Chowan Community College in Ahoskie, NC seeks a visionary Director of Marketing & Recruitment/Public Information Officer to lead branding, communications, and enrollment marketing. The role requires strategic leadership, content development, and collaboration with academic and workforce partners to raise visibility and impact across the region.

You will drive data-informed campaigns, manage digital channels, develop storytelling that showcases student success and community partnerships,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required in marketing, communications, public relations, or a related field.
• Master's degree preferred in marketing, communications, public relations, journalism, digital media, or a related field.
• Proven experience in marketing, communications, branding, digital media, or related field.
• Experience developing and executing marketing campaigns across multiple platforms.
• Strong written, verbal, visual, and digital communication skills.
• Experience managing social media and digital platforms.
• Ability to translate organizational accomplishments into compelling stories and content.
• Ability to collaborate with colleagues across multiple levels of the organization.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive annual marketing plan aligned with enrollment goals and community mission.
• Strengthen and consistently communicate the college brand across digital, print, and public channels.
• Develop proactive storytelling highlighting student success, alumni, workforce partnerships, and programs.
• Partner with Enrollment Management and other areas to create targeted recruitment campaigns.
• Lead digital marketing across website, social media, email marketing, and digital advertising.
• Build relationships with local media and community partners; produce press releases and pitches.
• Establish measurable goals and provide regular reports on marketing outcomes and audience engagement.

Job description

The Director of Marketing & Recruitment/Public Information Officer provides strategic leadership for the marketing, branding, communications, and public visibility of Roanoke-Chowan Community College (R-CCC).

The Director develops and executes a forward-thinking marketing strategy that strengthens the College's brand, tells its story, increases awareness of programs and services, and positions R-CCC as a college of choice for students, employers, community partners, and the region.

This position requires a creative, innovative leader willing to think beyond traditional community college marketing practices. The Director will identify new approaches to reach prospective students and stakeholders, develop compelling content that demonstrates the College's impact, and ensure R-CCC's accomplishments, students, employees, programs, partnerships, and contributions to the region are consistently and effectively communicated.

The Director will shift from a primarily reactive marketing approach to an intentional, data-informed, proactive model. Success will be measured not simply by the amount of content produced, but by increased visibility, audience engagement, brand recognition, prospective student interest, and support of the College's enrollment and strategic goals.

Strategic Marketing and Brand Leadership

• Develop and implement a comprehensive annual marketing plan and communications strategy aligned with the College's strategic priorities, enrollment goals, workforce initiatives, and community mission.
• Strengthen and consistently communicate the R-CCC brand across digital, print, social media, advertising, events, community outreach, and other platforms.
• Serve as the College's brand steward by establishing standards for messaging, visual identity, tone, and presentation across departments.
• Identify innovative marketing opportunities and challenge outdated or ineffective practices by introducing creative approaches that increase the College's visibility and relevance.
• Monitor marketing trends, audience behavior, competitor activity, and emerging communication platforms to continuously improve the College's marketing strategy.

Storytelling and Content Development

• Develop a proactive storytelling strategy that demonstrates the impact of R-CCC on students, families, employers, and communities within the Eastern NC region.
• Identify and tell compelling stories involving student success, alumni accomplishments, faculty and staff expertise, workforce partnerships, new programs, grants, community engagement, and institutional achievements.
• Transform institutional accomplishments and data into engaging content that clearly communicates why R-CCC matters to the region.
• Develop multimedia content, including photography, video, social media campaigns, digital storytelling, testimonials, feature stories, and other creative content.
• Maintain a consistent pipeline of positive and meaningful stories rather than relying solely on event announcements and routine institutional communications.

Enrollment and Program Marketing

• Partner with Enrollment Management, Student Services, Academic Affairs, Career and College Readiness, Workforce and Continuing Education, and other areas to develop targeted strategies for student recruitment.
• Create marketing campaigns for curriculum programs, short-term workforce training, adult education, online learning, financial aid opportunities, and other enrollment priorities.
• Develop audience-specific campaigns for traditional students, adult learners, displaced workers, high school students, parents, employers, and other target populations.
• Ensure marketing efforts include clear calls to action that move prospective students from awareness to inquiry, application, registration, and enrollment.
• Support enrollment growth by identifying programs and opportunities that require increased market visibility.

Digital Marketing and Social Media

• Lead the College's digital marketing strategy across the website, social media, email marketing, digital advertising, search platforms, and emerging technologies.
• Create engaging and relevant social media content that reflects the personality, accomplishments, opportunities, and people of R-CCC.
• Expand the College's use of artificial intelligence (AI), video, short-form content, student testimonials, employee features, behind-the-scenes content, and other contemporary approaches to digital storytelling.
• Evaluate the College website from a marketing and prospective-student perspective and make improvements that strengthen usability, messaging, and conversion.
• Explore emerging platforms and technologies that provide new opportunities to reach prospective students and community stakeholders.

Community, Industry, and Public Relations

• Strengthen R-CCC's visibility throughout its service area and the broader region.
• Build relationships with local media, employers, school systems, government agencies, community organizations, chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, and other partners.
• Develop press releases, media pitches, public announcements, talking points, and other communications that increase positive earned-media exposure.
• Collaborate with workforce and economic development initiatives to highlight employer partnerships, workforce training, apprenticeships, industry investments, and employment opportunities.
• Position R-CCC’s marketing message as the leading contributor to educational attainment, workforce development, economic mobility, and a regional economic driver for eastern NC.

Marketing Analytics and Accountability

• Establish measurable goals and key performance indicators for major marketing campaigns.
• Monitor website traffic, social media engagement, advertising performance, prospective student inquiries, campaign conversions, and other relevant data.
• Use analytics to determine which marketing strategies are producing results and redirect resources away from approaches that are not effective.
• Provide regular reports to leadership regarding marketing activities, outcomes, audience growth, campaign performance, and recommendations.
• Connect marketing performance, whenever possible, to enrollment, engagement, program growth, and institutional strategic objectives.

Leadership Expectations

• Think creatively -Look beyond what the College has traditionally done and continuously identify new ways to reach students and tell R-CCC's story.
• Be proactive -Find stories, opportunities, and audiences rather than waiting for departments to request marketing assistance.
• Be visible -Develop relationships across the College and throughout the community to understand what is happening and identify opportunities worth promoting.
• Be student-centered -Evaluate marketing from the perspective of prospective and current students rather than solely from an institutional perspective.
• Take ownership of the brand -Recognize that every advertisement, social media post, photograph, publication, webpage, video, and public message contributes to how the community perceives R-CCC.
• Focus on outcomes -Measure success by the impact of marketing efforts rather than simply the number of materials, posts, or campaigns produced.

Initial Strategic Priorities

During the first year, the Director should focus on three primary priorities:

1. Reposition the R-CCC Brand -Assess the College's existing marketing presence and develop a strategy to strengthen brand identity, consistency, visibility, and public perception.
2. Build the R-CCC Story -Establish an ongoing storytelling campaign highlighting students, alumni, employees, academic programs, workforce training, industry partnerships, community impact, and institutional accomplishments.
3. Connect Marketing to Enrollment -Develop measurable campaigns that move prospective students from awareness to action and establish methods for determining how marketing contributes to inquiries, applications, registrations, and enrollment.

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution
• Demonstrated professional experience in marketing, communications, public relations, branding, digital media, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing marketing campaigns across multiple communication platforms.
• Strong written, verbal, visual, and digital communication skills.
• Experience managing social media and digital communication platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to develop creative content and translate organizational accomplishments into compelling stories.
• Ability to work collaboratively with employees at multiple organizational levels.

• Master's degree in marketing, communications, public relations, journalism, digital media, business, or a related field.
• Marketing or communications experience within higher education, workforce development, economic development, or another mission-driven organization.
• Experience with digital advertising, marketing analytics, website content management, photography, videography, graphic design, or multimedia production.
• Experience developing enrollment or customer-acquisition campaigns with measurable outcomes.
• Demonstrated success strengthening an organization's brand, expanding audience engagement, or increasing market visibility.